Residents of Weyburn and area contributed 168 metric tonnes of grain to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank in 2003, and $3825.30 in cash.

Local board member Darwin Lackey said 99 metric tonnes of the food grains were delivered through the Weyburn Inland Terminal, with 69 metric tonnes delivered through the SaskPool Terminal.

The cash donation was collected at a non-denominational church service held Sunday morning during the Weyburn Wheat Festival.

The grain donations are down a bit, probably due to general farming conditions, said Lackey.

"But it's a good collection. We've had higher, but we've had lower, too."

Lackey has been a member of the board for 12 years.

He said local board members are considering a growing project for the summer of 2005. Even one-quarter section of donated land would be worthwhile, he said.

A Saskatchewan information meeting will be held at Avonhurst Pentecostal Church in Regina on Friday, Nov. 5 from 11-3 p.m.

The Foodgrains Bank established two food programs in Malawi this fall, where a food shortage has existed since 1997; another in Nicaragua, where people live on subsistence diets; in Ethiopia, where almost the entire maize crop this year was lost due to lack of moisture; and in Sudan where armed conflict has been added to existing problems of low food stocks, seasonal rains and high populations.

Almost 70,000 people will receive food aid, seed, and/or agricultural and food information from these four projects alone.

The motivation for giving is simple, said Lackey. "You do it like you do any other charity. You help people who can't help themselves. People are starving. That's why you do it."

The Foodgrains Bank website says that food collected by the Bank is distributed based on need, regardless of religious or political affiliation. In 2002/2003, food assistance of more than 47,000 tonnes was provided to people in more than 19 countries.

The food is used to provide immediate nutrition for people in emergency situations; to feed people as they rebuild and replant until a new crop is harvested after flooding, or other natural disasters; and to provide food as wages in food-for-work programs where people and their communities work on longer-term projects such as irrigation and improving farmland so that, in the future, people will be able to feed themselves.

In 2003, Canadian farmers donated over 16,500 metric tonnes of grain to the Foodgrains Bank. The total value of this grain, plus cash donations, totalled over $8.1 million last year.

The Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, provides $16 million annually to match shipments on a four-to-one basis.